From The Archives

Sited on a knoll overlooking Pasadena's Arroyo Seco and famous Rose Bowl with its views of the distant San Gabriel Mountains, the home of Charles & Alice Greene began as a simple 2 bdrm, 1 bath structure in 1902. Following a lengthy honeymoon abroad, where Charles Greene became keenly interested in Europe's Arts & Crafts movement, the Greene's purchased a lot to build their home, later christened "Oakholm".


Throughout the following years, the house was expanded to accommodate the growing family and staff, and "each room addition stretched the limits of new ideas a little further... and one can trace the evolution of ideas springing from Charles' imagination ". ( quote by Randell Makinson,AIA). The home, considered to be Charles' "experimental laboratory", incorporated textures and interior colors that were eventually used in future Greene & Greene designs.
Charles Greene's octagonal-walled, in-home studio, once accessed by only a ladder, remains as one of the most interesting rooms in the house, and was his personal retreat from where Charles would sketch many of his designs.

Comprised of 6-7 bedrooms, 4 1/2 baths, a formal dining room, 4 fireplaces, a butler's pantry, a remodeled architecturally-complimenting catering-style kitchen, a service porch/laundry room ( formerly Charles' workshop ) and a single car garage ( built to accommodate Charles Greene's purchase of a new Packard automobile in 1911), the home was extensively restored by noted architect/ historian/ author Randell Makinson in 1998, including the construction of the wisteria-vined-covered pergola, designed but never built by Charles Greene.

Located in the Park Place Tract of Pasadena
( also known as "Little Switzerland") , Oakholm was the first of eleven residences to be built within the immediate neighborhood, an area now considered to be the greatest single concentration of the Green Brothers' work, including the famous Gamble House and the Duncan-Irwin House.